Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries 61 



boring islands. It is a type of beetle about the size of the first joint of 

 the thumb, or slightly smaller. It has two hard wings, and below these, 

 two fine ones which are kept beneath the others when not in flight. It 

 has luminous eyes like fire and when flying the air becomes light as when 

 lighted by fire. If one should carry one of these in the hand on a dark 

 night people seeing it from afar and needing to make fire would think 

 that it was a fire from which they could gather light. If placed in a dark 

 chamber its glow is so great that one can see well to read or write a 

 letter and if four or five are tied together they glow as much in a dark 

 night as a lantern would in the fields or in the forest. When warring 

 in Hispaniola and other islands the Christians and the Indians use 

 these lights in order not to get lost; and particularly the Indians, as they 

 have greater dexterity to capture these insects, use them to make collars 

 when they wish to be seen a league away. So that in the country and 

 in homes at night, men do whatever they see fit with these cocuyos as 

 neither water nor strong winds will affect their luminosity nor hide their 

 light to find their way. When on an assault party at night, their leader 

 wears a " cocuyo " on his head as a guide to those following. The light 

 that these insects have in their eyes is also present in their body and 

 when opening their wings for flight it gives forth more light from under 

 its wings, as well as from its eyes, joining one light with the other, thus 

 giving forth greater luminosity when on flight. They keep these insects 

 caged for the services of homes for use at night without the need of 

 other lights. The Christians did the same in the past to save money on 

 the oil they had to buy for their lamps, which was either lacking or 

 expensive, at that time. When they saw that the " cocuyo " was getting 

 thin, or because of the imprisonment their faculty of producing light 

 was weakening, they turned them loose and got others for the following 

 days. The Indians also stained their hands and faces with a paste made 

 from these " cocuyos " and when in their celebrations they wanted to 

 have fun, they scare others that were not watching and knew not what 

 it was, by the great light given by the matter stained by these " cocuyos." 

 As this insect loses weight or dies, thus its light diminishes and finally 

 disappears. 



The De Orbe Novo of Peter Martyr was first published as Decades 

 Tres at Alcala de Henares in 1516. Later, additional decades were 

 added. The first edition with eight decades appeared in 1530. 

 Several pages of Decade VII are devoted to the cucuyos, laying special 

 emphasis on their ability to catch gnats (mosquitoes) , which were a 

 great nuisance to the natives of Hispaniola, forcing them to build 

 houses without windows and with very narrow doors to prevent the 

 gnats from entering. Martire continued: ^^ 



^^From De orbe novo; the eight decades of Peter Martyr d'Anghera, translated 

 from the Latin with notes and introduction by F. A. MacNutt 2: 310-313, New York, 

 1912. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 



